St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-29
LOOKING FOR A MOTOR
To Succeed Steam--EngineeI
CooIey's Investigations.

To Succeed Steam--Engineer
CooIey's Investigations.
Aid. George W. Cooley, who is a civil
engineer by profession, is at work on
new motive power for the motor line,
when the period during which steam
may be used has expired. During the
coming year the new power must be Sc
lected and work begun. and Mr.. Cooley
IntimateS the company will not ask an
other extension of the time at the hands
of the council. Mr.. Lowry has
given HIM instructions to investi-
gate the general subject and decide
which system is best suited to this eli
mate and to the conditions of the line,
which he is now doing. He said to a
Journal reporter that whatever change
would be made, the trains would be OPP
Grated on temporary tracks, and travel
be uninterrupted, The new power, what
ever it may be, will be used only as far
west as Thirty-first street junction, and
ste m will be continu d on the Calhoun,
Falls and WaShburn Home lines as at
present.
"At first it was thought cable line
would fit the case," continued Mr..
Cooley, "but there are some serious OBJ
jectiOns which may prove fatal to the
success of the cable line here. In the
first place. the lowering of the Fl. & ID.
tracks will make complicated en-
gineering problem at the Nicollet ave-
nue. crossing. You understand that the
conduit necessary for cable line is
from three to five feet deep below the
tracks. Now, the bridge would be
about two feet thick, leaving twenty
feet in the clear for the railroad. The
problem is how to carry the cable sue
ceSSfully across that bridge. The grip
from the car extends downward too far
for safety as the railway needs all
of the twenty feet head room. Even
if some arrangement could be devised
TO lift the grip the momentum of the car
after stopping at TWenty-ninth street
would not be sufficient to carry it over
the bridge. We might have the cable
stop at Twenty-ninth street instead of
1t Thirty-firSt, but that would not be
satisfactory either to the public or the
company. Another point against the
cable is the danger of the slot to horses.
The contraction of iron is SO much in
this climate that it is almost impossible
to steer safely between the twin dan
gers from too great width and too much
narrOwness-one being fatal to horses
and the other to the grip. Already in
st. Paul there has been considerable
trouble from both evils"
"Of cOuISe l have made no investiga-
ton yet, but | am in strong hopes"
went on Mr.. Cooley, ''that the storage
electric system will prove just what we
want. There are two successful roads
that know of, operated by this system,
one in Boston, and one in Newark.
None of the other systems of electric
motors by which the electricity is car
ried on the rails or by wires above or
by cOnduitS below the cars are success
full and we shall not consider them. By
the storage system battery in each car
is charged in the shops with electricity
sufficient to run it four hours before
going out. The power is applied in a
very simple way, projections
on wheel being attracted
successfully by one pole and repelledey
the other pole of the battery. The gus
ton with regard to this system is asto
whether it is powerful enough to prOpel
cars up the three-fOot grade on NicOllet
hill. That's one of the things | must
find out. Another thing is as to the life
of a storage battery. whether it will last
long enough to admit of its use ecOnom-
ically."
Il shall investigate all these questions
carefully, going East about Jan. 10, for
that purpose. If necessary l may also
90 to California, though Snpt. Goodrich,
of the street car line. will look at the
cable lines out there during his coming
pleasure trip. OF course we shall con-
tinue to use steam on all the branches
beyond the 31st junction.